


Rediscovering

by peskylilcritter



Series: Journey to Tattooine AU [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Dreams, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7863805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peskylilcritter/pseuds/peskylilcritter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan teaches and Luke learns. So does Obi-Wan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rediscovering

This time he’s prepared for Luke’s arrival, if only because Luke told him he was coming.

Obi-Wan finishes the sequence and lets himself lean on the staff. “Hello, Luke.” His breath is coming faster than it should; he’s out of shape and getting older and painfully aware of both.

“Hello, Ben.” Luke watches him, and the look on his face is so familiar it steals Obi-Wan’s breath. “What were you doing?”

“Exercising,” Obi-Wan answers, automatically.

“Aunt Beru tells stories sometimes. You looked like one of the fairies from my favorite.” Luke waves his hand in Obi-Wan’s direction. “Dancing in the wind.”

Obi-Wan huffs out a laugh. “‘Dancing in the wind.’ No one’s ever described it like that before. And I’ve never thought of this as dancing.”

Luke’s giving him that look again, of total focus, like Anakin working on some piece of machinery. “I want to know how to do that. Can you teach me?”

Obi-Wan finds himself gripping the staff tightly. “Perhaps. Now come inside, I’ll make tea.”

***

He’s walking, slow, steady, leaning on his staff. He’s walked so very far, and the path is ever longer.

He’s afraid he’ll soon reach a fork in the road.

He’s afraid he’ll make the wrong choice.

(Again.)

***

(His dreams are strange these days. He can’t tell what they mean, if they have any meaning.)

***

Owen doesn’t like that Luke spends so much time with Obi-Wan. Owen doesn’t like Obi-Wan, doesn’t understand him and his choices and doesn’t care to try.

Obi-Wan doesn’t care whether Owen likes him but he is glad they’ve come to something like truce. They both know the only way to make Luke stay away would be for Obi-Wan to move out of reach.

Beru refuses to participate in their discussions.

Luke has reminded him of how much he enjoys teaching. It’s just small things really, exercises to strengthen the body and engage the mind.

A year goes by quickly and Luke starts asking to learn how to handle a staff. Obi-Wan, still raw inside, caught up in old memories, refuses. Luke doesn’t come back for a month and when he does he asks to learn more about the Force instead.

***

Obi-Wan splits his free time between exercise and meditation and can’t banish his demons with either. His ghosts follow him whatever he does. Remarkably, Qui-Gon is the least of them.

***

Their staffs meet, hard and loud. Obi-Wan’s arms ache, his lungs burn. At ten years old, Luke is strong and in the past few months his skill has grown quickly.

Ten years. The realization catches him off-guard and Luke takes full advantage of the lapse in focus. Obi-Wan loses his breath for a long painful minute when his back hits the floor.

He sends Luke home early, makes tea with trembling hands and spends the afternoon sitting at the table with his head in his hands while his tea grows cold and tears soak into his beard. Ten years.

***

He’s flying. Far below the desert melts into and ocean and the ocean becomes a vast forest and the forest yields to the mountains.

He’s flying, free, and laughs. The sound is lost in the wind.

***

(His dreams are always about weightlessness these days. He wonders, and has to put it aside for the sake of his sanity.)

***

He’s been on Tattooine for nearly twelve years before someone finally finds him.

**Author's Note:**

> oh look we're getting dangerously close to ot territory


End file.
